Day 9

191! 9 pounds in 9 days! Amazing how this works. No exercise whatsoever, just eating very healthy. 

Thanksgiving is getting closer and closer and I would like to lose as much weight as I can even if it's just as a buffer... Because I want to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving, And sometimes when you refuse to eat your family's food, someone gets offended. We don't want to that. 

That all being said I'm going to try to be good on Thanksgiving and not over-eat. 

Weight : 191

Pounds lost: 9

Days remaining: 81

Pounds remaining: 26

Days 6-8

Whooo! Busy week as always. Owning your own business means you never really get a break. This makes it hard to take care of oneself honestly. I feel like my life is always moving, never slowing down to stop and enjoy the little things. I hope things can change next year. 

It's late but I will update with my weight in the morning. Had some great meals in the last few days- had a few cheats as well. :/. Life moves fast and part of me says "enjoy it now, eat whatever!" While the other side says "be smart. Eat for your health and you'll be glad you did later on." I'm a young guy but I am very careful with my life. I don't party and only drink occasionally, my biggest obstacle is always stress. I really need to get that under control! 

No more personal rants for now. Will update again soon. 

Day 5

Another pound down today. On Monday nights I teach an audio engineering class.    Sometimes it's hard not to eat poorly on Mondays because my class is from 6 to 10 PM, And that means I'm usually hungry after 10. But I don't like eating after 8pm. It keeps me awake and it doesn't give my body enough time to really process it, So I feel like it's just sitting in my stomach while I sleep. 

So on Mondays that means I usually have either a single large lunch, or a brunch type meal and a mid sized dinner at 430 ish. Really tricky to time it all correctly Where I don't feel bloated in my class but I don't feel hungry afterward. 

We have some breaks during class, so I could bring a snack...

Anyway. Lot of things to do today. Wish I had more time to ramble.

Day: 5

Pounds lost: 7lbs

Days to go: 85

Pounds to go: 28lbs

Day 4

Not much to say about today. It snowed here in town and it's been pretty lazy. 

Luckily I was pretty tame at the party last night and didn't overeat. It's pretty easy to do that when there is a lot of food available. I've made it habit of checking my weight every day; It seems to help you realize the effect of your eating on your weight, And it also helps to constantly remind you of your goal. This really helped me before and it's helping me now. The only catch is you have to check it at the same time every day - Or at least the same part of your day. I check it every morning right after I wake up And go to the bathroom. I'm wearing the same basic clothing, It's roughly the same time, And I can put the scale right by the bed. Easy.

I also use an app called TactioHealth To keep track of my progress. The app is sort of buggy sometimes, But it really helps you to see your progress and keep it in check with you at all times. The goal is to constantly be reminded! On your phone, every time you eat, when you wake up, when you go to sleep. Sooner than later it will become habitual.

Remember - veganism is not a diet--it's really a lifestyle. For the most part diets don't work; they put your mind in a weird state. They make you feel guilty and they make you feel not good enough. I have experienced  this more times than I am proud to share... I've tried just about every diet under the sun.

That's why this blog is subtitled "an experiment in nutrition " - Because it's not a vegan diet, Even though I am "dieting" for 90 days. 

One great thing about a plant based diet is that it is so impossibly hard to NOT get healthy doing this right. It's really simple - If it came from an animal in any way, don't eat it. Minimize processed foods, minimize oil, remove sweets at all costs. 

Because the food you are eating or so low calorie, You rarely have to worry about eating too much, And you really have to worry about whether or not it is working - If you have not been a part of this lifestyle and now you suddenly are, the results are obvious and immediate. 

Let me be clear that I hate exercising. I wanted a lifestyle that allowed me to eat good food and be healthy without a lot of exercise. Sounds like a pipe dream right? The vegan/plant-based lifestyle has allowed me to do this. 

Didn't lose any weight yesterday but at least I didn't gain! 

Day: 4

Weight: 194lbs

Lost today: 0

Total lost: 6lbs

Pounds to go: 29lbs

Days to go: 86

At this rate I will reach my goal in:

31 Days

(This probably won't happen, but hey, that would be great if it did!)

Day 3

Was able to take a half day off today and go have brunch with my wife. There's a local place here in Tulsa called First Watch that is like...if IHOP weren't so trashy. They have GREAT food, very "farm to table" type ingredients, lots of options for someone watching their weight. I had oatmeal with pecans, craisins, almonds, and bananas, with an english muffin and some skillet potatoes. Very delicious. As far as vegan details: I'm pretty sure the oatmeal was vegan, but the potatoes were a little greasy and english muffin seemed to have some butter on it when I got it. Came with brown sugar, which is vegan, but it's SUGAR. Pretty hard to resist putting brown sugar in oatmeal, and putting jelly on an english muffin. Craisins and Jelly are all decently processed foods with a good amount of sugar, but it was a very small amount. Had some orange juice, black coffee, and water.

Vegan Rating:  B+
Delicious Rating: A+




In my last blog post I talked about "Skinny Soup" as well as my Super Breakfast Bowl thing. That's what I ate yesterday - and guess what? Lost THREE pounds. In one day. I'm telling you this food is magic. I didn't feel hungry or left wanting more - I'm a 6' tall 194lb guy. I would tell you if I was feeling hungry.

Like I said before, from all of my experience losing weight, it's logarithmic. Like this:

Initially it's a big jolt in weight loss, but as you get closer and closer to your goal, it gets harder and harder to lose weight. I was an accounting major in college, and in general, I'm a huge nerd, so using data I've collected from the very first time I went vegan, I made this chart. Go figure! It looks almost just like the example above:



It took me only 90 days to lose 40lbs. After that, it took me almost 7 months to lose 15lbs (170 was the lowest I ever entered, and it was very brief - just one day! Usually I say that the lowest I ever got was 172 because I stayed there for a little while). So now that I'm going from 200 to 165 in 90 days, the challenge is much more difficult than it appears on the surface. 165 is a huge goal for me, I can see it within my grasp! My clothes are fitting sort of tight right now, and that's no good.

In college, I weighed 265lbs. I lost about 35lbs from just eating better and trying not to snack or eat junk food. The problem was, I was doing all kinds of weird diets and I just didn't feel good. I looked better, but I felt weak, depleted. It took me almost a year to lose 35lbs, and if you look at pictures of me, I almost look pale. I was eating low quantities of calorie dense food - the exact OPPOSITE of what the vegan diet is. It was one of those "high protein" diets where you eat a lot of meat, beans, nuts, etc., but you watch your portions and work out. That just didn't work for me. I wasn't getting NUTRITION. I was just getting fewer calories of the wrong foods.

When I lost all of that weight from 265 all the way down to 180, around which I circled for the better part of two years, I literally had to buy an entire new wardrobe. I lost two shirt sizes, three pant sizes, two ring sizes...I even lost a SHOE SIZE?! You don't realize that even your feet have fat cells surrounding them.

The vegan diet works astonishingly well for me. I can eat a lot, but it's a lot of the right stuff. PREPARE FOR NERDY FACTS. At my old rate, using the equation for the trendline, my weight loss was a function of:

y = -10.9ln(x) + 232.26


This means that, based on the original data, from a starting weight of 200lbs, in 90 days I would be at 175. So the rate this time is a little more strenuous, which means I will need to be extra careful, and make sure to get exercise, and also make sure not to overeat on Thanksgiving and Christmas.


Update: Tonight my sister-in-law got engaged, so there was a huge party. I tried to be good - but there wasn't a lot of vegan options at the party. The last thing you want to do at a party for an engagement is be like "eh, I can't eat anything here, do you have anything else?" Luckily, there were some standbys - mixed vegetables, corn, carrots, rolls, and salad. I did sneak in some cheesy potatoes though. VEGAN FAIL.

No worries, sometimes this stuff happens. Food is very important in American culture, and VERY important in the South. Almost every occasion involves food, and you don't want to offend people by saying you can't eat what they made. I come from a family of "you'll eat what you're given, mister." and a sulking reply "yes ma'am." Try harder tomorrow, that's all I can do.

All in a day's work - update:


Weight Lost: 6lbs
Weight to Go: 29lbs
Percent Lost: 17%
Days remaining: 87

Day 2

One of the hardest things about being a vegan or vegetarian is eating out at restaurants. It's REALLY HARD to find stuff that's vegan. Most vegans that I know compromise on some things - for example, they'll eat the bread, but they'll ignore that there was probably butter on the outside of the bread to make it golden brown. Truly, the only way to ensure that something is 100% vegan is to make it yourself.

Last night my wife and I went out for mexican food. Now, mexican food is decently easy to eat vegan. Chips and salsa? No problem! Queso is out (bummer), but guacamole is definitely in! Avocados are great and I eat them a lot. Very healthy for you. Fun fact about avocados - they are proven to be beneficial to ovary health in women. This is interesting because not only are avocados shaped somewhat like a uterus, but they have a pit in the middle, and take exactly 9 months to grow. Crazy right? ANYWAY.

In addition to my salsa and guac, I had a taco salad that we ordered with no cheese, no sour cream, and no meat. So it's basically beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, guac, pico, and tortillia strips all put into a big tortilla shell. Sort of like a big "bean dip" at that point. Very cheap - $10 to share between me and my wife. It's plenty of food. We even had some leftovers. They didnt charge us anything (or take off anything) to do all of those substitutions, which was nice. Most places are very aware of it, even if they don't openly say it on the menu. They are familiar with vegetarians and vegans - they're not stupid! So ask!

Easy(ish) places to eat as a vegetarian / vegan:

Indian Food
Mediterranean (Greek) Food
Chinese Food
Thai Food
Vietnamese Food
Sushi / Japanese Food
Mexican Food
Whole Foods / health food stores with restaurants

Guess what - AMERICAN FOOD isn't on the list! Go figure. Most American places serve steaks, sandwiches, burgers and fries, fish, etc. and while you might be able to get a decent salad, it will likely come with some creamy americanized dressing like Ranch or Thousand Island. In the salad world, vinegars and juices are your best friend as a vegan. Balsamic Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar, Regular white vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, etc. Mixing some type of vinegar with some type of fruit/citrus juice can be very acidic, so you may need to dilute it a little, or put a little bit of oil in there, but not too much - it's very high calorie! Good for you, but very high calorie. One tablespoon of olive oil is 120 calories. What once was a 400 calorie salad now becomes 1200 really quick!

Here's a bit of interesting trivia I bet you didn't know - America is the 8th most obese country in the world. I bet you thought it was higher, didn't you? Actually Mexico, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are all more obese! I bet you never would guess that 43% of all Kuwait citizens are obese. That's 2 out of 5 people. America is not far behind at 1/3, but still...makes me feel a little better knowing that we've been higher on the list in the past. Now here's the sad part - the reason these countries are fatter than us? American companies. McDonalds, Coke, Pepsi, Burger King, etc are all companies that have gone global with their fatty products. 

I'm going to start my day right by having a high fiber breakfast. When I originally lost a bunch of weight, that was the KEY to my success. I would very rarely eat lunch, but instead, I would have a substantial breakfast with high fiber and I would have one or two small snacks throughout the day. Simple snacks - fruit, nuts, juice, maybe some crackers. It's a simple solution - if eating three meals a day causes you to eat too many calories, then don't eat three meals a day. For me, I work a LOT, and often I don't even have time for much of a lunch away. It's usually so quick I just end up eating junky food. So this way, it forces me to get up earlier, make a super healthy breakfast that's easily about 800 calories, and then let it keep my energy up all day until a light snack at noonish, then dinner around 7. I try not to eat too late - that's another thing I cut out when I lost all that weight. Snacking and dessert - two hidden killers of weight loss. Did you know one small pack of M&M's has 240 calories? That's about 15% of my required calories for the whole day!

For breakfast, I made my version of "Rip's Big Bowl" from the Forks Over Knives cookbook. Basically this contains:

Raw Oats
Granola
Blueberries
Walnuts
Grape Nuts Cereal
Bananas
Almond Milk

This meal is fairly high calorie, but LOADED with nutrients, LOADED with fiber, and is a great boost of energy when you need it most. For dinner, we had vegetable soup, made from a very simple vegetable broth and you guessed it...vegetables! Corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, carrots, and onions. Very simply seasoned, hardly any salt needed. Highly nutritious, extremely low calorie, very good for you. My dad used to call this "Skinny Soup."

Progress!

Weight on Day 2: 197lbs

Weight Lost: 3 lbs

Pounds Left to go: 32lbs
Days Left to go: 88

It's pretty amazing - 3lbs lost in just two days of removing meat, dairy, eggs, soda, oil, and sweets.  I forget how effective this really is. 

Day 1

Three of the best tips ever given regarding weight loss are as follows:

1. Drink a lot of water.

2. Get plenty of rest. 

3. Eat if you're hungry, and stop eating when you're satisfied. 

These very simple tips are much harder to follow than most people realize. Some research suggests that drinking and 8 ounce glass of water as soon as you wake up (before any food) Can increase your metabolism by 20%, And will help regulate your digestion. Research has also shown that people that get eight hours of sleep every night are healthier overall, and less depressed. And eating only when you're hungry is something that is extremely difficult to do for many people - If it's dinner time we feel like we need to eat! If we are watching a movie we feel like we need to snack! Often times it just takes sitting in front of the TV that makesus hungry. But we really have to ask ourselves - What is my stomach telling me? Am I actually hungry?Is my  stomach experiencing kurtosis (The technical term for what we call hunger pangs)? 

Research will tell you that kurtosis is a good thing - It's your body telling you "okay I need to eat!" The whole idea of three meals of Meatand two  veggies with a balanced breakfast Is a total myth. We need to eat when we are hungry - Whether that is two times a day or 10. With how high-calorie American meals are these days, We really could get by on one or two meals. 

When doing the vegan diet you could easily do three or four meals. The food is a fraction of the calories, fat, sugar, salt, and it's twice the fiber. 

I like to start my day with something simple. Oatmeal with banana slices and blueberries, with some raw oats sprinkled on top. Little boost of sweetness and fiber to start the day right, and taste great.

And hey, I'm already at 198lbs. My weight fluctuates a lot, easily pounds per day. Kinda weird sometimes. From here on out I am going to weigh myself at the same time every day - 9am. I work for myself so I usually start my day at 10 and work til 6 (ideally) but very often I will start at nine and end at seven if I have a lot to accomplish. Owning your own business means you always have a lot to do. Fortunately for me it means I have a lot more freedom to deal with my diet. My heart goes out to those who work "for the man" that don't have as much freedom for a healthy breakfast and lunch. 

Til tomorrow 

Goal progress:

2lbs lost

33lbs to lose